Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) has invested in California bio-based products company Origin Materials.

Origin Materials will be building its first commercial-scale demonstration facility in Sarnia, Ont. by late next year. It will be using bio-based feedstocks such as crops and biomass to make new polymers, surfactants and carbon blacks, which are used as fillers and color pigments.

The company has built a pilot plant in Sacramento, but was convinced to build its demonstration plant in Sarnia due to the bio-cluster growing in the Sarnia region. Sarnia historically has been Ontario’s base of chemical production from fossil fuels.

New companies in Sarnia, some co-operatives and some for profit, are converting crops into fuel and chemicals that used to be made from oil.

Sarnia-based BIC, a non-profit organization, backs bio-based businesses through several government-funded programs including its Sustainable Chemistry Alliance investment fund.

“The critical mass of infrastructure, expertise, and experience in Sarnia makes it a clear global frontrunner for commercializing industrial biochemical processes,” says John Bissell, founder and CEO of Origin Materials.

Origin’s technology takes lignocellulosic raw materials to make what it calls bio-based intermediates. Origin says it has partnerships with consumer products companies who will use Origin’s products in packaging. — AGCanada.com Network